NeverForgetMac25

QFT The best goal I've seen in a while.

Typical....I have my biggest week of the season and Aussie shuts down the game in hopes of cooling me off. I see how it is Aussie_Wing! No worries whatsoever. Cheers

I posted there for all of a couple weeks a few years ago. When I was told me opinion didn't matter because I was a Wings fan, I got slightly annoyed. When the forum administrator PM'ed me to tell me that I can expect that kind of treatment being a Wings fan on their board, I left and didn't go back. I had a lot more luck on the Preds board a couple years ago, but now I strictly stick to LGW.

Last year, I predicted the Packers were one year out from being a force, and to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. All things considered and with where the Packers were projected to finish the season, its hard to be dissapoointed even though the Conference Final loss was a heartbreaker. That being said, all the Favre talk aside...I am really looking forward to the season. Obviously, winning your division pins you up against the other division winners of the NFC but I am uber-excited after seeing our schedule. TBH, it looks much easier than last years did, and hopefully the Packers will only be better with the experience they gained last year. Obviously, this Jolly incident has me a little worried since Thompson made moves assuming Jolly wouldn't be busted for drugs. On top of that, how Rodgers will handle his first year in the spotlight behind arguably the greatest quarterback of all time will be the big question marks this season. Lets flip the coin, kick off and get started! GO PACK GO!

What a disappointing end to a game that was dominated by the Pack. Ugh.

Sure, there's a potential for burnout giving 100% intensity every night, but the Wings have given 100% intensity in no more than a couple games all season. That's not enough at this point in. Which is what I initially said...but I wouldn't mind seeing the intensity grow more frequently as the season wears on, especially for the "big" games. That's just smart play. I would like to think so too.

It was lame

With the amount of talent on this Wings team, that could very well happen. However, I'd much rather see this team ramp-up rather than change play on the drop of a dime. It's just not the greatest way to head into the postseason (not that it means you'll be eliminated either--I.E. 2002).

Unfortunately, I think this is a little too ideal. The big drop in this case takes place when Z is only 31. Probably a little too early for that kind of dip, but a great hope nonetheless. Besides, $6.86 is a little too fairy-tale scenario, IMHO.

TBH, if they don't start ramping it up right now, I truly hope they do once the trade deadline passes. That's the time where its really about buckling down, fixing imperfections and truly showing your hunger. If we don't see it in March, I'll be nervous mid-April.

I can't remember who it was because I was only watching during commercials of the Packers game last night, but there was a "fight" in the Penguins/Sabres game that was literally a hug-fest capped off with the Buffalo player lifting and "bodyslamming" the Penguin to the ground. Uber-lame. I was embarrassed for both of them.

Those sold out within the first 5 minutes today.

No. My brother and I were both trying and got as far as typing in the spam-bot security code, but once we typed it in it kicked us back a step. This happened a few times and we now gave up. Extremely disappointing.

Cheers....and BTW, I have no idea what you're saying in the first paragraph....that's how far we've gotten off track. TBH, its not that I'm not willing to give an inch or admit when I'm wrong, I just think we're talking about two different things. While I'm arguing for one thing on topic A, you're arguing for another thing on topic B, which has gotten us nowhere. I think the initial numbers misunderstanding is what through us in different directions.

Absolutely not. I just want to get my point across (no different than you) and I can't help it if you either don't agree with it or don't like it. I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing....you can get off your high horse. Agreed...and I'm mad at myself for letting it go as far as it has.

If the report that Z's agent came in with an initial requested amount of $8.25 per is correct, I doubt he'll get it. Kenny will get that knocked down by about $750,000 for the home-town discount and longevity of the contract.

See above

That wasn't why I responded to you. I did so because I didn't agree with something you said. Should it matter that you weren't originally debating with me. *I* didn't say 15%, I said *in excess of 15%* because people were throwing out numbers in the 16% area. I knew that wasn't right but didn't feel this was going to get dragged out this far. Once it did, I listed the correct increase. The cap number (while rumored to be going up the following year) wasn't official at the time of Pavel's signing. *When* he signed the contract the Cap was $44 million. I'm not interested in what it was the year his contract kicked, and I made no mention of that. The fact is the numbers I mentioned in my previous post reflected *current* percentages based on time of signing, not at the time of kicking in. When did I not agree with you in terms of the cap going down? Reread my posts and all you'll find is comments based on when players were signed and percentages at the time of signings. You're reading into what I'm saying too far, hence why I bolded the last comment of my previous post.

Another reason I didn't even bring up was how much the NHL low-balled the Cap the first year out of the lockout. They were so concerned with the league hitting its total to keep the cap atleast where it was that there wasn't much chance of it dropping at that point. However, the fact of the matter is that at the time Datsyuk signed his deal things were much different than they are now and how they'll most likely be over the next few years. The financial future does play a major factor in dealing with a long-term deal to Z, but that's not what I was talking about. No one ever said that the US financial economy has nothing to do the NHL Salary Cap, I think you're just looking to argue because nothing I've said claims the Cap will continue to rise. Lastly and most importantly, the salary Cap when Dats signed was $44 million. This past season was $56.7 million which is a 22.399% increase. How do you figure only 15%...are you basing that on what others have said, because the numbers state otherwise. 22.39859% above Pavel's contract is $8.2007 million. NOTE: This is not claiming anything about the future of the Salary Cap...*just the correct numbers with all economic factors aside*.

"Loosely" is the key word. The fact of the matter is even if the Cap were to relatively stay close to where its at right now things are very different then when Datsyuk signed his contract. He signed a $6.7 contract when he showed no signs of playoff production and with the cap at a meager $44 million. If we assume that both Dats and Z are comparable, the NHL's salary cap inflation since that time shows that Z's contract if adjusted to current NHL economics would be in the $8 million range, *just the same as if Dats' contract was up this year.* No one (especially myself) ever said the NHL could sustain an inflation rate 2-3 times what the rate of everything else is in this country. That wasn't the point.

I don't think you understand what people mean by inflation in this case. They aren't referring to US economic inflation, rather they're referring to the NHL's Salary Cap inflation which has skyrocketed in excess of 15% the past two seasons.

Booyah, *******! I knew it was coming sooner or later. I've been getting better and better these last few weeks, but this week tops them all! Exactly...Movin' on up with plenty of weekends to go!

*Seeking* a deal in the $8.25 million range is not the same as obtaining it. First and foremost, plenty of teams would be Z $8.25 per to play for them, so lets get that out of the way first. Second, $8.25 is where Z's agent is *starting* at, which is massively different than where they'll most likely finish. The truth is no matter where Z's agent comes in initially at Kenny will then push to get him to take a home-town discount (whether he comes in at $8.25 or $7.25 for that matter). Z has been around the organization long enough to know the sacrifice those have to make to be a Red Wing and I'd be very willing to bet his deal won't have a Cap hit over $7.75 million. My guess is it'll be right around Lidstrom-type dollars.

Here's the thing you're continuing to overlook though....just like the Wings team that failed in the playoffs up until '97, they didn't make the necessary changes to both their style and a few key players. The nucleus is there in SJ, just as it was in Detroit in the mid-90's...they just needed the piece that put it all together. Bringing in Boyle and Blake who bring playoff success as well as a Stanley Cup winning assistant coach to show them the sacrifice it requires to win the Cup could very well be the piece of the puzzle that was missing all along. If these two teams are fortunate enough to meet up in the Conference Finals I believe it will be an epic battle with either team having a solid shot of moving on, but to write a team off because of past failures was the same thing teams did with the Wings up until 97. As Babs says, "if you keep knocking on the door, eventually its gonna open up." Let's hope this isn't that year for SJ becuase this isn't the same Sharks team thats failed in the past.

Friday: Ottawa @ New Jersey Los Angeles @ Buffalo NY Islanders @ Minnesota Chicago @ Calgary Anaheim @ Edmonton Saturday: Carolina @ Boston Washington @ Philadelphia Buffalo @ Montreal Dallas @ Ottawa Toronto @ Pittsburgh Tampa Bay @ Atlanta Los Angeles @ Detroit NY Islanders @ Nashville Minnesota @ St Louis Columbus @ Phoenix Chicago @ Vancouver NY Rangers @ San Jose Sunday: Philadelphia @ New Jersey Colorado @ Florida Boston @ St Louis Carolina @ Montreal